


Scene For Dummies

by Finntrollhammaren



Category: Hollywood Undead (Band)
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Slow Build, gayboy in denial, somewhat AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 18:43:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6670354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finntrollhammaren/pseuds/Finntrollhammaren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny is replacing Deuce and Jorel meets him for the first time. But he begins to get insanely flustered and nervous around Danny, which makes him wonder what the hell is wrong with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

If you had to ask Jorel what the hell happened, he wouldn't be able to give you a solid answer. The storm that was Deuce no longer being apart of Hollywood Undead came seemingly out of nowhere, although now that he thought about it-- the signs had been there for a while. He thought forming a band with his best friend would be cool. But, all good things come to an end, right?. Part of him wanted to try apologize for anything he might've done wrong, even though it wasn't his fault at all. Things just.. fell apart. The band, and their friendship. 

Well, what were they supposed to do now? They didn't have any type of person lined up to take Aron's place. Was this it? They'd only just started to truly make it as a band and it was already over before he was able to properly enjoy it. He scrolled aimlessly through his phone, pausing on a few photos Aron and him had taken together, gritting his teeth. But before he could contemplate deleting them all his screen was covered by a phone call from Charlie, and he rolled his eyes before accepting it. He didn't really feel like talking to the band right now. But he'd already been ignoring them all for a week, that could only go on for so long. 

"Hey, man. I know you're still moping but you should really come over. There's someone I think you'll wanna meet." He mumbled, with an unfamiliar voice shouting something in the background. At least that meant it wasn't Aron. It wouldn't of really made sense for it to be anyways, Charlie was significantly more salty about it all than he was. Taking a moment to pause and try to see if he knew the voice at all he sighed, forcing himself off the couch to look around for his jacket. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. I'll be there in 20." He hung up afterwards, not having anything else to say about it. Might as well get it the fuck over with. 

The journey over to Charlie's took closer to 30 minutes but it probably didn't make much of a difference, as he parked his car close by to find an unfamiliar one in the driveway. Must've belonged to he who shall not be named as of current. Popping the collar of his jacket and cracking his knuckles he walked up to the front door, deciding he could just walk inside. Following the voices he ended up in the living room, looking at Charlie and then... damn. He was.. new. "Jorel, this is Danny. He'll probably be replacing uh.. yeah. He was in some band called Lorene Drive. I've heard him sing-- pretty fucking sick." He made the vague hand gestures as he spoke, then left the room altogether. Oh god, now he had to be ALONE with this guy?. 

Trying to stop being so tongue-tied he stuck his hand out in an almost robotic manner, chewing on the inside of his cheek. The hand that shook his was really warm, almost throwing him off his game entirely. After the firm yet friendly hand-shake he smiled, and Jorel took note of his /nice/ his teeth were. "Hey, Jorel! Or.. J-dog, right? You're pretty good. I'm a big fan, I guess." His voice was nice too. What the hell was with this guy? Who did he think he was? Why was this making him forget how to speak?. "Good to know. Can't say I've listened to your band before, sorry man." That was followed by his own little chuckle, and it surprised himself considering that's the first time he'd laughed in a couple weeks. 

"That's okay. A lot of people haven't. Charlie has, but that's only because I've known him for.. a year or so. I don't remember how we met. But it's nice to meet you. Super cool to be able to hangout. So.. I heard what happened and--" "Save it. Look, you plan on replacing him, right? Show me what you got. Sing something." He snapped, flopping himself onto the couch and staring up at Danny. He could tell he stunned him, by the deer-in-headlights-look he gave him before shrugging his shoulders and nodding. "Sure. Want me to sing one of my songs.. or one of yours?" He was fiddling with the fabric of his shirt, smiling sheepishly. Hmph. "One of ours. I need to see if you fit his uh.. voice. Or whatever."

Jorel leaned into the sofa while Charlie came back into the room, sitting down right beside him. "Oh, let me guess, he's gonna sing for you?" He asked, only receiving a nod in response from both parties. Danny took a long pause but eventually just decided on 'Undead', and he stared down at the floor the entire time. Their voices were a little bit different but.. the motherfucker was actually GOOD. He dug this. Huh, maybe all hope wasn't lost after all. After singing the short chorus Jorel actually clapped, smiling just a TINY bit. "That was.. good. I really dug that, Danny." Oh so he had nice eyes, nice teeth, nice hands, AND a nice voice? Where did this guy get off? Also, why the hell was he so focused on his physical appearance?. 

He got up, pulling out his phone and unlocking it, only to hand it over to Danny expectantly. "Give me your number, man. If you end up joining our band then I'll need to be able to contact you." He muttered, chuckling again. Danny froze again before tapping on the screen quickly, adding himself as a contact accordingly. "There you go. Just text me letting me know who you are, alright?" He said, before yawning like a goddamn kitten. Okay, no. He was leaving now. This was way too confusing for him to deal with. "Bye, Charlie. See ya.. Danny. Nice seeing you." He grabbed a beer from Charlie's fridge before leaving, needing to wrap his head around all of this.

\-----------------

It was 10 pm when he decided to text Danny. He just said 'It's Jorel. Add me to your phone.' and left it at that, not wanting to bother with making conversation. He didn't need to get attached to this guy too. His trust issues have only escalated after all the bullshit that went down. He even ended up dropping things with a girl he'd been seeing. There wasn't anything wrong with her, she was a nice girl. He just couldn't have a relationship now. She didn't seem too happy about it, so he didn't plan on trying to rekindle things later. 

At 11:30pm he received a reply from Danny, who was possibly intoxicated by the looks of things. 'Kayyy. Why did u leav so soon? wanted 2 hang with u more.' Jorel only rolled his eyes, contemplating on if it would be worth it to entertain him. You know what? fuck it. 'Shit to deal with. Had to take a nap.' He tapped his fingers nervously against the sides of the screen, then raised an eyebrow when Danny decided to call him instead of replying. 

"Jorellll! Texting was too hard. How was your nap?" He was totally shitfaced, and more than likely at Charlie's still since he could hear him rambling in the background. "Um. It was good I guess. Did you have to call me?" It may of sounded rude but it wasn't Danny's fault, he'd just been really jaded and cold lately. The line went quiet for a few minutes and he was almost about to hang up before hearing a cough, and then the sound of someone tripping over a beer can. "Guess not. You have a nice voice, is that weird? It's nice." He slurred out, and Jorel felt his cheeks heat up against his own will. "Thanks. Look, I'm going to bed. Have a nice night." He grumbled before hanging up without letting the other say goodbye, deciding to put his phone on silent. 

Rolling on his side he stared at the wall, a cat suddenly climbing over him. Why did the compliment make him blush? He never blushed when girls gave him compliments. Maybe it was just because he was surprised? Yeah, that was it. Danny was a really nice guy, so he probably gave out compliments all the time. It was just a friendly comment, Jorel. Don't let it get to you so much. He just.. couldn't push away that weird feeling he'd had since he first layed eyes on the new guy. He wished he could figure out what the fuck it meant. But, guess that was something he'd have to find out later down the road. Maybe it was just the entire aspect of someone knew joining the band that him and.. Aron had started. He'd have to get used to it eventually, and soon. 

Maybe he should've stayed on the phone with him longer. He just didn't feel like unintentionally blushing even more at drunken compliments. Danny was an attractive guy. Nothing gay about that, right? Ha...

Here we go.


	2. Chapter 2

Jorel hadn't spoken to Danny or any of the other guys for a few days now. So, he currently had no idea what was even going on with the whole band situation. To be honest, he was never really 'in the know' with anything that had to do with the band except when albums were being released and when they played shows. That was mostly due to the fact he never asked questions. He was the type of guy to simply go along with whatever was happening. Was Danny an official member now? Did the rest of the guys like him or not? He had no idea. Maybe that's something he should find out. Band stuff was kind of a big deal. His livelihood and everything.

Rolling out of bed he wandered into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, a small frown on his face. Wow, he really needed to shower. His black hair was greasy and sticking to his face, and he surely didn't smell that good either. Why did Danny consider himself such a big fan again? Jorel could barely take care of himself when he was upset. He didn't get like this often, but when he fell into a rut he stayed in it for a /long/ time. His life had consisted off laying in his bed and playing video games all day, rarely getting up to eat something or use the washroom. So, he didn't look the best as of currently. Guess it was a good thing he didn't live with anyone, so they didn't need to put up with his disgusting habits. Shrugging his shoulders he peeled off his clothes and forced himself to take a shower, hoping it would at least make him feel a little bit better.

Upon getting out of the shower he looked down at his phone, noticing he had a missed call from (speak of the devil) Danny himself. What did he want now? And why was he calling so early?. Glancing over at the clock he realized it was 3pm, which was a reasonable time to call someone on a weekday. Should he call him back? He should probably call him back, shouldn't he.

He immediately redialed him, then put it on speaker phone while it rang so he could actually put some clean clothes on for once. Danny answered after the second ring, and Jorel could almost feel the happy-go-lucky grin he was probably sporting. "There you are! I was scared that you'd be busy." Jorel looked over at the sound of his voice, chewing the inside of his cheek. "I was just in the shower. Why did you call me?" He half-shouted, while sliding into a pair of boxers. There was a lengthy pause after the question was asked, and then a nervous chuckle. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. I've already hung out with everyone else. We had a very brief meeting and I like you. You're pretty cool. Is that fine?" Wow, he almost SOUNDED like he was sweating bullets. He sounded really nervous, actually. What was there to be nervous about?. While tugging on a pair of underwear he sighed to himself, then shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Where did you want to chill?" He shouted across the room, wanting to make sure he was heard properly.

He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, laying down on the bed in only a pair of boxers. So much for getting clothes on, hah. "Oh. Would your place be too weird? We could always get some drinks instead." He still seemed just as nervous as before, which was adorable in it's own way. Taking a quick glance around he frowned, noticing it wasn't the best place to have guests. "Look, if you don't mind it being a dump in here we can hang at my place." He could always pick up a few things just to make it look less like shit, Danny didn't need to see how much of a pig he really was. "That's fine. Text me your address I guess. Bye!" At least he sounded a lot more chipper now, but this meant Jorel actually had to get out of bed and clean. Ugh.

\----------

Hearing the door bell he tugged a pair of sweats on while hopping/rushing to the door, throwing it open and leaning against the frame. "Sup." He rose an eyebrow, watching Danny's eyes move downwards and immediately widen. Oh yeah, forgot the shirt. He usually didn't need to wear one when he was home, so putting one on before the other actually came didn't occur to him at all. Jorel wasn't insanely buff or anything. He had the 'v line' girls always went crazy for and some faint abs. Nothing fancy. It didn't help that he was mega pasty due to not going outside a lot. "Hey." Danny rubbed the back of his neck, sliding past Jorel and into the house. Closing the door behind him he chewed the inside of his cheek, stepping in front of him and moving some stray hairs away from his face. "Should I put a shirt on? I kinda forgot. When you called I was just getting out of the shower."

He was about to walk past him when Danny coughed again, making random hand gestures. "You don't have to. It's your house. Just surprised me." He shoved both hands in the pockets of his sweater, cheeks now a light pink tint. Did he seriously make him blush? Sweet. Jorel scratched his stomach and walked into the small kitchen, leaning against the counter. "Uh, want anything to drink? I'm not used to hosting people. I'm used to people helping themselves." He opened up the fridge and stared blankly into it, hearing foot steps as the other entered the room. "Do you have beer? If not then I could just have water or whatever." Well, good thing he happened to be a heavy beer drinker. Handing one to his 'guest' and grabbing one for himself he closed the door, resuming his position against the counter top. 

Shit, what were they supposed to talk about?. He stared down at the floor, tapping his finger against the aluminum can in his hand. "So, does everyone else approve of you? I'm not up to date on anything." He mumbled, looking up and taking a sip of his drink. Danny only nodded, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "They're all really nice guys. It was cool to meet them all in person." Jorel paused, wondering if that meant what he thought it meant. "Does this mean you're in the band now? Like, legit?" That was something he needed to know, and he could practically feel his heart racing afterwards. "I'm pretty sure. They all said 'welcome to the band' which sorta gives it away. We're band mates now."

Oh. Neat. Conversation was pretty dry after that, and they both resorted to cleaning Jorel's fridge of all the beers inside. There was probably a lot wrong with getting shit faced at not even 5 in the afternoon, but they needed SOMETHING to do. After that was said and done he smirked, trying to stay standing straight. "Wanna.. play video games? It'll be fun." He nodded, although he felt like a bobble head as he did so. Danny clapped his hands together, clearly the more sober one of the pair. "Sounds greattt dude. I'll kick your ass." It's fucking on. Maybe. If he could make it back to his bedroom without falling over.

Being successful in his mission to get back to his bedroom and miraculously get his system set up he flopped onto the bed and handed Danny a controller, who awkwardly sat by the end of the bed to his left. Seemed like even with alcohol in his body he was awkward as hell. Eh, he tried to get him to loosen up a bit. It wasn't long before he realized it was difficult to play a fast-paced game while you were drunk, since real life felt like it was lagged. So, that only meant that Danny would kick his ass. His reflexes were significantly better than his own.

He was right. Danny had kicked his ass all 3 times they played, and had ended up laying down beside him at some point. When did that happen?. Jorel tossed his controller onto the carpet, placing both hands behind his head. "I would've beat you if I was more sober." He grumbled, furrowing his eyebrows and looking up at the ceiling. Danny busted into a fit of laughter, gently placing his own controller on the night stand. "Sure, buddy. Keep dreaming." He hovered over him to grin, and Jorel replied by sticking his middle finger in his face. They were pretty close physically, and he wouldn't deny that it had him feeling.. things.

They ended up staring into each others eyes for a good 5 minutes, not making any type of effort to move away. Danny had really nice eyes. A really nice chocolate brown that you could lose yourself in. He must be popular with the ladies. He was even charming Jorel. God, how fucking gay was that?. He could feel his cheeks begin to heat up which meant it was time to end this, lightly shoving Danny off to the side and sitting upright. "So, do you have a way to get home? I hope you didn't drive here." He frowned, not even checking to ask beforehand if he did. Uh oh spaghetti-o's. "I... fuck. No. I didn't even think about that. I guess I could just call a cab--" "You can stay here if you want. The couch pulls out into a bed." He began to chew his bottom lip, unsure of why he wanted him to stay so badly. They had basically only just met.

"Sure. Saves me money. Thanks, man." He grinned, getting off the bed and stretching. Jorel definitely stared while this happened, and nearly drooled because he had it going /on/. As a guy he was allowed to appreciate another guys physique, okay? Fuck off. Once Danny left the room he rolled onto his stomach and shoved his face into the pillow, trying to figure out where the fuck all these lame emotions were sprouting from. Love at first sight just wasn't a thing. He refused to believe that. But why did he have such a strong desire to be around Danny all the time after only meeting him twice?. He didn't like it. It was annoying and was slowly ruining his mental state.


	3. Chapter 3

Waking up the next morning was certainly.. different. He began his regular hangover ritual by shuffling into the kitchen to pop a couple Advil, ultimately wanting his headache gone so he could live his life. He hadn't forgotten about the guest in his home, though. Which meant he might need to stop walking around in his boxers. Wasn't very host-like of him. Whatever, they both drank a lot last night so he wasn't worried about being prim and proper. Speaking of his guest, it might be a good idea to check on him and make sure he didn't vomit all over the place or something. 

Jorel snuck into the living room and peered over the back of the couch-bed, almost having to hold his jaw to stop it from dropping to the floor. Danny was HOT AS FUCK. He couldn't help it. He had to admit he was really attractive and it was honestly giving him mixed feelings. His shirt was riding up just enough to see a significant amount of pale, toned flesh, and he'd also discarded his pants at some point throughout the night. Okay, he should probably stop fucking him with his eyes while he was sleeping-- it was pretty creepy. Even he could admit that. He'll just.. wake him up.

Lightly shaking his shoulder he watched the other squint his eyes shut and lightly swat at his hand, eventually groaning and opening his eyes. "Oh, hey. Do you have anything for this headache? I feel like shit." He mumbled, sitting up and wincing as he did so. Jorel only nodded, scampering away again only to return with a pill and a glass of water. "Thanks." Watching him swallow it and place the glass on a nearby end table he rubbed his upper arms, suddenly aware of his own lack of clothing. Oopsies. Better get that situated. 

Danny most definitely checked the other out as he walked away, noting that he had a very cute butt. Standing up and hopping into his pants he placed his hands on his hips, rocking on the heels of his feet to await for Jorel's return. He wasn't joking when he said he liked him. It was more of a 'idol' crush but now that he'd actually be in a band with him it might get a lot more personal. Which could be a major problem. Falling in love with fellow band members never ended well since they were usually unacquainted, so he planned on keeping his sappy romantic feelings to a minimum. It was already deeming to be tough. 

Once fully dressed, Jorel returned to the living room and noticed Danny was already fully dressed as well. Darn. Licking his lips he looked around the room, not sure how to approach the situation. "So, I had a lot of fun watching you kick my ass at video games. Maybe I won't mind having you around after all." He piped out, a sheepish grin gracing his lips. That caused Danny to giggle, sticking a hand into the pocket of his jeans. "You figured you would mind having me around? Ouch, my heart." He said in a mocking dramatic tone, clutching his chest. "Kidding. I had fun too. You're nice to spend time with." There was a smile glued to his lips the entire time, and Jorel almost felt weak in the knees just from looking at it. What a babe. 

This felt like a goodbye and he lowkey didn't want it to be a goodbye just yet. Wanted more time to admire his facial features amongst other things. "On that note.. wanna go get something to eat? There's a weird cafe type place just up the street." He offered, raising an eyebrow in anticipation. Danny was the slightest bit stunned at the invite, not expecting Jorel to keep him around in the morning. He already expected to be out the door by now, so it was a pleasant surprise. "Wow. I'd love to. Yeah. That's cool." He sputtered, mentally slapping himself in the face. Nice, Danny. Way to come off friendly and casual. Don't treat this like some type of date. It was just him being hospitable. 

Jorel actually found his nervous demeanor cute, but there was no way in hell he was ever saying that out loud. "Cool. I'll go grab my wallet." He gave him a ridiculously awkward pat on the shoulder and left the room yet again, leaving Danny alone to look over at his shoulder and scream internally. Not a date not a date not a date. But hey, maybe if things went well they could go on a real date one d--- no. He's doing the exact opposite of what he told himself to do. Stop over analyzing things and don't let your feelings get personal, buddy. That could only mean bad things in the future. While mentally having a yelling match with himself he heard the other return and looked up with a smile, Jorel only nodding and leading him back outside. 

The walk was short and quiet, mostly because he wasn't joking when he said the place they'd be hanging out at was JUST down the street. When they walked in Jorel actually PULLED THE CHAIR OUT FOR HIM (like a date) and sat down across from him (kinda like a date?), resting his elbows on the table and humming under his breath. Okay, he was trying so hard to resist getting all blushy and gay right now. His mind kept screaming it wasn't a date but he couldn't help but feel like it was, only because he craved for it to be one SO DESPERATELY. "So uh, what do you want? I'd say nothing expensive but everything here is relatively cheap.." He shrugged his shoulders, leaning back against the chair. Hold on, he was PAYING FOR HIS FOOD? Stop making it seem like a date goddammit. "I can pay myself. Don't worry about it." He said, then felt his pockets and paused. "Wait. I think my wallet's still at your place. I can just run and get it--" "It's fine. Just let me pay. You can buy me food next time to pay me back." He teased, even flashing a playful wink. 

Was he flirting? He could swear that this all felt like flirting. Should he flirt back? What if he was wrong and none of this was flirting at all, but just Jorel trying to make Danny feel more 'welcome' to the band? So many questions were running through his head right now. It was awful. "Oh.. okay. Thanks. I'd love to buy you food-- I mean, because I hate owing people stuff-- I'll just get a muffin and a black coffee. Yeah. I'm not that hungry." Which was a big fat lie, but both of those items were cheap and the less money he made Jorel spend the better. Jorel seemed amused by the previous comments but only nodded at the request, getting up out of his seat and walking up to the barista/cashier a few meters away. Looking down at the table Danny felt his face turning red, placing both hands on his cheeks in a poor attempt to hide it. Gah, why did his new band mate have to be so fucking charming and irresistible? Better yet, why did he have to be attracted to guys at all in the first place? This could all be avoided if he was strictly into women. 

Jorel eventually returned with Danny's muffin and black coffee but got himself a BLT bagel and iced cappuccino, because he was fancy and liked treating himself. Sue him. Resting his chin in his hand and taking a bite of his bagel with the other one he studied his new friend closely, not even caring if Danny could tell he was staring or not. He did, and felt the slightest bit self conscious about it. After a few small bites of his muffin he'd had enough, and was sure he would start blushing again if this continued. "Do I have something on my face?" He asked, licking his lips to see if there were any stray crumbs. Jorel shook his head, straw between his lips. "Nope. You're just cool to stare at. Helps me get used to you. So I can recognize your face automatically." Most of that was one big fat lie-- he was staring at him because he thought he was pretty and enjoyed conjuring up dirty images in his head. But, whatever. 

They decided to continue the (totally not but Danny wished it was) 'date' in silence, eating their respective meals and standing up individually when they were finished. Jorel held the door open for him (LIKE A DATE!!!!!!!!) and walked him back to his place (Like a date--okay I'll stop) to retrieve his wallet. Once Danny found it he stood up again, chewing the inside of his cheek. "So, I guess I'll head back now. I've taken up a lot of your time." He mumbled, furrowing his eyebrows. Jorel shook his head, actually holding his arms out for a hug. "No, I needed the company. I've stayed locked up here for almost a week. Thanks for seeing me." He smiled, wiggling his fingers to state he was indeed looking for a hug. Jokingly rolling his eyes Danny stepped forward into his embrace, wrapping his arms around the Italian's upper waist. 

The hug ended up lasting longer than either of them had intended, and Jorel ended up awkwardly patting Danny's back whilst pulling away and staring at the floor. He rubbed the back of his neck, walking over to the door and holding it open for his guest. "I'll see you around. Text me if something comes up. Or if you feel like hanging out. Bye." He coughed, watching Danny walk past him and to the outside world. "I will. See ya, Jorel." He then started to make his way back home, and the door shut behind him. 

That was all.. sufficiently awkward. Why did he feel so fuzzy now? He couldn't deal with even acknowledging the idea that he might be developing a crush on the guy. Danny was supposed to be his ex-best friends replacement. That was all types of fucked up. This fucking sucked.


	4. Chapter 4

After that semi-awkward hangout session they actually began to meet up more often, and Jorel was surprisingly enjoying himself. He ended up being dug out of the depressive rut he was in and had nearly forgotten why he had been like that in the first place. Well, of course he still knew what HAPPENED, but because of Danny he was getting over it quicker than he ever would've on his own, and that he should eventually thank him for. 

It had been a couple of weeks since he'd officially joined the band and they were now finishing their first writing session as a group, and Jorel was feeling pretty confident about the whole situation. Deciding to celebrate he dragged Danny out for some food and drinks, and they were now parked in the far corner of the establishment, swishing drinks in their hands while they patiently waited for their food to arrive. They would've brought the rest of the guys, but they had their own things to attend to. That was fine by him, though. He liked hanging out with Danny. They actually had a lot in common, which brought them close in a short period of time. Staring down at the floating ice in the clear glass he tapped his tatted fingers against the table, to the rhythm of the first song they were already starting to make. 

"What do you think we should call the new track? Or.. almost-track." Danny broke the silence, face twisted in an expression Jorel couldn't clearly make out in the dim lighting. That was a good question. He didn't have a clue what to call it. Last time it was mostly everyone else that named the songs, and that tended to be after the songs were recorded and ready to be put on an album already. "Huh. Um... Been To Hell? It's the main line in the chorus. It would be recognizable. Easy to remember." He shrugged, knowing that was a pretty cheesy name. He wasn't the creative one when it came to naming anything. He had a cat named Tiger, if that gave it away. To his surprise the other grinned, and he noted how white his teeth were even in the dark. "I like that. Maybe that's what we'll call it. This is exciting. My second full length album." Second? Oh yeah, he was in a different band before all of this nonsense. He still knew nothing about it, mostly due to the fact it had never come up in conversation. 

Time to ask, he supposed. "What was your first one called? I wanna listen to it. You've never actually spoken about your old gig." He leaned his chin against his hand, elbow resting on the table. There weren't many times when he gave a shit to learn about someone's past, but this time was sincere. He wouldn't ask if he didn't feel like hearing about it, after all. Danny seemed shocked that he wanted to talk about it at all, taking a moment to collect himself. "You do? It's called Romantic Wealth. The band was called Lorene Drive. More.. alternative rock? Kinda pop-ish though. I never knew what sound we were even going for. I don't know if you'll like it." He appeared embarrassed, by the way he was chewing the inside of his cheek and avoiding eye-contact. That didn't sound awful. "You'd be surprised. I like different things." That made the other smile again, and Jorel was glad that it was back on his face. Smiling suited him.

While making a virtual note on his phone to check it out he finished off his drink, which was just in time because the waitress appeared with their food. Ordering a knew one he began to pick away at his food, wanting to take his time eating for once. He had a habit of wolfing everything down within a few minutes, and then hating himself afterwards. It was a vicious cycle that he was determined to break. Danny on the other hand was eating quite fast, but took lengthy breaks to even it out. "Well, I hope you enjoy it. That would make me happy." Jorel's eyes widened a bit, feeling his cheeks heat up. Why did that sound so cute coming from him? It gave him chills. He resisted the urge to reply with "You make me happy" and nodded with a mouthful of food instead, thinking that was the safer route. 

Well, Danny DID make him really happy. Was that gay? That was at least a little bit gay, wasn't it. He'd never really considered calling himself bisexual. Long ago he recognized that guys could be attractive too, but that's as far as he let his mind wander before. Simply 'oh, that guy is pretty good looking' and leaving it there. But after meeting the man beside him that all escalated significantly. Now simple statements were making him blush and feel all fuzzy inside, and he always wanted to make him smile just so he could see it. So maybe he was bisexual. That didn't change much of the current situation he found himself in. He didn't think Danny was into dating men at all- he was just friendly and sociable. 

They continued to idly talk back and forth between bites of their meals, not drinking too much since they still needed to get home in one piece and the drinks there were just a bit on the pricey side. Eventually Danny yawned, resting his head on Jorel's shoulder and poking his arm. "We should leave before I pass out in public. I think I can walk home from here." He mumbled, yawning again afterwards which only showed how sleepy he was. Jorel got up and wrapped an arm across his shoulders, holding him up just in case he needed the assistance. "I'll walk you there. Two tipsy guys are better than one." He stated, leaving the designated money on the table and stumbling with his friend out the front door. 

It was harder getting back to Danny's place than he had originally expected, taking almost double the time it probably would have taken them if they were 100% sober and not nearly falling asleep where they stood. Fumbling with his key he partially slumped against the door while it opened, and Jorel wrapped an arm around his waist to hold him up. Once he regained his footing he kicked off his shoes and closed the door behind them both, and Jorel blindly followed behind him since he wasn't sure what else to do. He could just go home once he was positive everything was fine and his services were no longer required at the residence. 

They both ended up in his room, sitting on the edge of his bed and staring at their feet. The Italian yawned and flopped backwards, Danny quickly following suit. "You're gonna check out my album tomorrow, right?" He asked through a very heavy voice, eyes half lidded and on the verge of sleep. Turning his head to face him he mustered up the biggest smile he could under the circumstances, patting the phone in his pocket. "I made a note and shit. I promise I will. I'll tell you what I think.." His voice trailed off into a loud yawn, and he stretched his limbs out along with it. He should really be getting home already, no need to overstay his welcome. 

Nodding a bit Danny made no effort to move into the proper sleeping position, still fully dressed except for his shoes. Wow, he was exhausted. Stretching his arms out he sighed, one just barely draping over Jorel's stomach while the other moved dormant against his side again. "Goodnight." He weakly piped out, melting into the mattress and falling asleep right then and there. This made the Italian feel significantly weird again, glancing down at the hand on his stomach and shrugging his shoulders. Guess he was spending the night here, then. 

Deciding to get as comfortable as he could under the circumstances he nestled himself into the sheets, rolling on his side facing away from Danny and curling up into a fetal position of sorts. "Night." He said out loud to no one in particular at this point, taking longer to pass out but succeeding only minutes after the first, drifting away into dream land where he could live out all his questionably gay fantasies. Don't judge him.


	5. Chapter 5

Upon waking up in the morning something felt.. very off. More specifically, something felt on top of him. Still groggy from sleep he opened his eyes to find none other than Danny Murillo partially flopped on top of him with his head buried against his shoulder. Oh god, this was bad. Very very bad. How was he supposed to get out of this without waking him up and making things awkward?. Well, it wasn't his fault they had ended up like this while they were sleeping. Jorel sighed loudly and moved his arm from around the others waist, still having the difficult task of shifting his weight without having him stir too much. This was a problem. He might actually have to wake him up in order to do this and he REALLY wanted to avoid doing that if he could. He could always just lay here and pretend to be asleep, so that Danny would just crawl off him and he could act like he didn't know it happened.... Just to enjoy how nice this felt a little bit longer.... 

That seemed to be the best route in his head. Staring up at the ceiling he focused on the faint rhythm of Danny's heartbeat, also feeling the warm breath on his shoulder while he took small breaths in and out. If he could access his phone he'd probably take a picture of it-- but it was in his pocket on the side the sleeping beauty was currently laying on top of. This was why passing out in the same bed was an awful idea to begin with. They ended up cuddling at some point and now Jorel was stuck there to suffer while he waited for him to wake up. Then he was supposed to act like it hadn't happened which was worse. Surely he'd be flustered over this for a few days, to say the least. Danny was just so /cute/. He even snored quietly which was oddly relaxing to listen to. 

Now he was starting to wish they could cuddle for real. Like, both of them being awake and aware of what was going on. Two bros could platonically cuddle without it getting weird, right?. Was that a thing? He knew girls did that all the time. He had absolutely no idea if that was considered the norm for guys as well. Not like he'd be able to propose it without coming off strange anyhow. It was with that thought that the weight on top of him began to move and the pressure on his shoulder lifted, which meant Danny was most definitely awake now. Should he close his eyes and pretend to sleep? Would that be convincing enough?--

"Hey." He heard a husky voice in his ear and tensed up completely, cheeks presumably a dark shade of red. Okay, so pretending to be asleep wouldn't work anymore. Time to go with the flow instead. "Um, hi." He muttered out, turning his head to the side to be only inches away from Danny's face. Yikes. This was much too close for comfort. Seeming to get the hint he flopped his head back down against Jorel's shirt, even being so bold as to breathe in his scent. Why did this seem a lot more romantic than it should? And why wasn't he bothered by it?. "I'm still sleepy. You're not in a rush, right?" He asked, and Jorel paused to think of some type of excuse. He didn't have any plans other than feeding his cat, but he had done that before he left home yesterday so his feline friend should be fine for a few more hours at least. "Well.. no." Smooth, dude. 

There was another long pause and Jorel had honestly thought that Danny had passed out again until he spoke, adjusting his position while he did. "You don't mind he laying on you, right? It's just comfy. If it's weird I'll totally move." Their legs were now tangled together and Danny was laying his head on the middle of Jorel's chest between his pecs, and looked much more.. couple-y than it did platonic. Good thing no one was even around to see it, right?. "Doesn't bug me. It's cool. Friends cuddle." There was that /friends/ statement. Saying that out loud didn't sound right, and he already knew why but didn't feel like admitting it to himself. Now being able to reach into his pocket he pulled out his phone to see that it was already sitting at 30%, which he deserved for not charging it for almost 24 hours. Looked like he would\t be using it a lot today. That left him with no distractions while he 'platonically' cuddled with his band mate. Hnnn.

It was Danny's turn to listen to Jorel's heartbeat, and his fingers twitched occasionally. He really wanted to hold his hand, or outline the tattoos littering his arms. But those were things 'friends' didn't do when they cuddled. That word didn't set too well with him either, but that was his reality. He'd been officially friend-zoned by Jorel Decker. That was fine with him, he supposed. Not like he could do much about it. He couldn't force him to be into guys or him specifically, as much as he wished he could. At least he was able to be this physically close to him at all. Might as well make the most of it. 

While he was distracted Danny would sneak a glance up and scan his facial features, admiring each little quirk he had and finding him all the more attractive as he did it. This wasn't helping the whole 'accepting that he was friend-zoned' thing. It was just hard NOT to look at and think about someone while partially laying on top of them. Should they talk? Maybe it could make it all a lot less tense. "I'm glad that I met you." He randomly blurted out, and decided to move his head back against his chest again while internally screaming. Not the best way to start off a platonic conversation. He looked up in time to watch a smile grace Jorel's features, which wasn't something he got to see very often. "Thanks. I'm glad I met you too. Life seems a lot less shitty." He was looking up at the ceiling as he spoke, which was good because Danny was now sporting quite the blush. 

While clumsily climbing off of Jorel he heard the faintest groan pass through his lips, and realized he DID grind against his crotch the slightest bit in his daring escape. Oh god now the room went back to being all awkward and tense again. But that sound was something Danny didn't plan on forgetting anytime soon. It was music to his fucking ears. Coughing obnoxiously, Jorel sat up and dusted himself off, forcing himself out of bed to stand upright. "I should get going. I need to feed my cat and charge my phone at some point. I'll uh.. text you later!" He exclaimed, face still bright red as he found his shoes and walked out the front door. Well, that was something he wouldn't live down. 

Once Jorel arrived home he was still a flustered, blushing mess. He made a sexual noise in front of Danny. He made a sexual noise BECAUSE of Danny. This had to of been the worst day of his life. Well, that was being a little bit over dramatic but he didn't care. It only made it worse having a crush on him and all. Yeah, crush. He has now 100% accepted that he was very much into his new best friend and it was already ruining his life. Blame it on Danny for being so friendly and cute and perfect and-- He needed to chill the fuck out. 

Feeding his cat he plugged in his phone and stared down at the screen, as if he was expecting a text or phone call from aforementioned crush. He'd only just left his house not even an hour ago, it was unlikely he'd want to talk again so soon. Especially after Jorel had left on such a poor note. Maybe he should apologize for it. Or he could never bring it up again and hope the situation was forgotten about. Bringing it up again didn't sound like a good idea-- it would only make things weird all over again. Why couldn't things be simple? He could just be 100% straight, keep his friendship with Danny platonic and focus on the band. But no, life had to make him suffer every chance it got. 

Maybe he could just avoid the hell out of Danny for a little bit and clear his head. But that would look suspicious due to the fact they'd been hanging out so much-- and were sort of in a band together. He'd just have to be less touchy with him instead. No platonic cuddling. Next time they went out he could go try to hit on some girls or something, keep his mind busy. Yeah, that would work just fine. Everything would be okay.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny could tell there was something off about Jorel lately. Hell, everyone could tell there was something off about him. He'd been keeping to himself a lot more than usual, and was especially jumpy around Danny in particular. Had he done something wrong? This was all feeling quite personal and he wasn't liking it at all. But he wasn't sure how to approach the situation. Jorel would avoid him regardless. They'd been so close not even a week ago, but now it was as if he had some disease the other was trying to make sure he didn't catch. What the fuck, dude?. 

They were currently sat on opposite ends of the small room, which wasn't saying much. Danny kept looking over at him and back down at the notepad in his lap, tapping his pencil against it furiously. He had zero ideas right now. The only reoccurring thought in his head was why he was being treated like a black sheep for no reason in particular. Luckily everyone else appeared to be on a roll, which put less pressure on himself. He needed to sort this out, though. He couldn't keep letting it distract him forever-- he needed to write music. There was a moment where they both made eye contact and he even tried to smile, but Jorel immediately whipped his head down towards the scribbled letters on his page. Well, guess he can go fuck himself then. 

After the slightly less successful writing session they all left the room one by one, and Danny made sure him and Jorel were the last two left behind. Standing in front of the door he frowned, and it was evident by the expression on the other mans face that he was in trouble. "Why are you avoiding me?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Jorel paused, licking his lips briefly. "I'm not avoiding you. We're in the same room together, aren't we?" He retorted, rocking back and forth on the heels of his shoes. This fucking smart ass. "You know what I mean. You barely text me now. You make sure to stay at least a few feet away from me at all times. I thought we were friends, man." He was staring right into his eyes now, and he could see him cower the slightest amount. "It has nothing to do with you." It was barely a whisper, and it was obvious that whatever was going on was really getting to him. Whether or not it involved him, he had no idea. 

Moving his arms back to his sides he took a few quick strides towards Jorel, hesitating before wrapping his arms around his waist and resting his chin on his shoulder. "Wanna talk about it? You can come over and meet my dog." He suggested, and he could literally feel Jorel melt into the embrace. Huh, seemed like all he needed was a hug all along. He didn't speak but he could feel him nod, and he pulled away with a grin. "Cool, lets go." He opened the door and walked outside, waiting until they were both out before heading towards his own house. "...What kind of dog do you have?"

He looked back at the sound of his voice, and he was almost appearing to be his old self again. "Red bulldog. He's still a baby. He's really friendly, so don't worry about him attacking you." That made a smile appear on Jorel's lips, but it didn't look like it was 100% genuine. Oh well, better than nothing. Danny continued to lead the pair through various streets, pausing in front of a quaint home in the middle of the suburbs. Nothing too fancy, just enough for him and his dog. Maybe another person if he ever decided to settle down. Jorel caught up shortly after, staring up at it and gawking. "This is way nicer than my own place. Why did you always come to mine? I'd much rather hang out here." He mumbled, following him up to the door and stepping inside. 

Danny shrugged at the statement, locking the door and immediately being greeted by his animal friend. "Here he is!" He announced, leaning down to pet him and letting Jorel do the same. He walked into the kitchen and threw open the refrigerator, glancing up at Jorel and raising an eyebrow. "Want anything to drink? I don't have any alcohol, by the way." He grabbed himself a bottle of water, humming under his breath. "Oh. I'll have water too, I guess." He was back to being awkward again, but Danny tossed him the water regardless. Taking a few sips he examined his 'new' guest, leaning against the small island in the middle of the room. "Okay, so do you plan on telling me what's up yet? I mean, that's the main reason we're here in the first place." He broke the silence, chewing the inside of his cheek. 

The other visibly tensed and shoved one hand into the pocket of his sweater, fiddling with something inside. Sounded like a pair of keys. "Um, well.." He began, sliding down against the wall and sitting on the floor with his knees tucked against his chest. "You know how you're a replacement? No offense. But, you are.. and.. I've just been thinking about Aron lately. Thinking about myself. So many memories are just.. they mean nothing now. We'd known each other for what felt like forever. Now it's just.. nothing. It's hard to accept. I've also just been struggling with a lot of self acceptance bullshit that I won't bore you with." It was a good thing it was dead silent in the room or he probably wouldn't of heard him, he was speaking so softly. Circling the island and approaching Jorel he sat down on the floor as well, nudging his knee with his own. "Go ahead. Bore me." 

There was a loud sigh followed by some awkward silence, and Danny almost regretted asking. "Just uh.. sexuality. I've never focused on it. It was never really important to me. But now I've been thinking about it and it's been giving me a headache." He finally blurted out, resting his chin in between his knees. That made Danny raise his eyebrows, now very interested in what he had to say. Sexuality, huh?. "What about it is giving you a headache?" Might as well be gentle about it, but he wasn't gonna lie and deny he wasn't excited to hear all about the details. Was he about to imply he was into guys? Because that would be a dream come true. "The possibility of liking dudes and chicks. Nothing against that whole.. lifestyle. But I never figured it was one I'd be apart of. Just weird to think about at my age. This is stuff people find out when they're like 16." He sighed again, but was more relaxed than when he first asked him anything. 

He was into guys. He was actually into guys. This was amazing news! But.. oh yeah. Jorel had already used the strong 'friend' term with him last time they hung out one-on-one. So this didn't actually change anything. It just gave him more people to be jealous over. Scratch all that, this was awful news. Don't get him wrong- he was happy that Jorel was discovering himself and everything. He was just being selfish. "Nah. Some people don't figure all this out until they're well into adulthood. You're fine." He draped an arm over his shoulders and Jorel leaned into him, huffing like a child. "Whatever." He grumbled, but continued to cuddle against him regardless. 

They sat there for what felt like forever until Jorel groaned and stretched out, standing up and rubbing his lower back. "Sitting on the floor made my ass hurt. Thanks for talking to me. Have any movies we can watch or something?" Danny glanced up and smiled, holding his hand out for some assistance. Once he was helped up Jorel's hand lingered for just a little bit too long, which made him feel all fuzzy inside but he shook it off. "Yeah, yeah. Lets watch a flick or something. I have a whole shelf of them if you wanna go pick one. Can I take a quick shower? I'll be 10 minutes max." He said, already knowing he probably smelled awful. "Yeah, okay. I'll be.. in there." He mumbled, gesturing to the living room before disappearing from his sight. 

Danny returned with damp hair and a pair of sweatpants, and Jorel definitely took a few moments to gawk at his bare chest. Why did he have to not wear a shirt? Sure, it was his own home, but he was gonna suffer all night now. "Did you pick anything?" He asked, towel still in hand as he dried off his hair some more. "I-- uh-- yes. Yeah. Is this okay?" He blurted out, being tongue-tied at first. That caused Danny to chuckle, flopping himself on the couch right beside Jorel. "That's great. Lets get our movie on." He clapped his hands together, getting up to put it in the DVD player and sitting back down as it started. 

Time to suffer for the next 2 hours.


	7. Chapter 7

Things quickly went back to normal after that day, Jorel and Danny were closer than ever yet again. Opening up to him about Aron and his own newfound sexuality really helped fill in the gap that had wedged them apart, and it was weird to think about. He wasn't the type of person to open up to anyone so easily. Hell, his ex-girlfriend still didn't know nearly as much as Danny did and they'd dated for over a year-- so that was really saying something. He still couldn't pin point the exact reason why he found him so goddamn special, but maybe the reason was simply something he couldn't explain. 

A six pack of beer in each hand he trudged up the small steps to Danny's front door, glad they were doing this at his house this time. After that whole.. situation blew over his place seemed to become the permanent chill spot, and they only went to Jorel's if it was significantly closer to their current location. Knocking on the door by kicking it with his shoe he stepped back, chewing the inside of his cheek. He should really stop doing that so often before there was no more flesh on the inside of his mouth. Eugh, gross. Hearing a faint "Coming!" from what he assumed to be the opposite end of the house he rolled his eyes but waited patiently, although his fingers were getting sore from holding the boxes for so long. 

After a couple of moments Danny threw open the door and took one six pack out of his guests hands, easing the weight load on him and bringing it into the living room. There was already a cooler set out and a plate of.. nachos? Sweet. Oh yeah, he remembered why he was over in the first place. There was some type of sports game on and Danny had really wanted someone to watch it with. Jorel himself wasn't much of a sports guy but he was willing to watch it if it meant being around Danny, and a valid excuse to get absolutely shitfaced again. He placed the other pack of beer down on the table and watched Danny unbox both of them, placing 14 of the 16 beers into the cooler and handing one to Jorel, taking the other for himself. 

He gestured to the platter of nachos and Jorel immediately took a couple greedy fistfuls, mumbling a quick "Shit, thanks man." while shoveling the food into his mouth. Yeah, he wasn't the most proper guy when he ate food. Especially if it was anything inherently messy like nachos. Danny didn't seem to mind at all, even giggling like an idiot when he looked over to see what all the noise was about. "Wow, how cute." He teased, and Jorel could feel himself blushing regardless. Danny tended to throw around random comments here and there-- some as jokes and some genuine. They still caught him off guard and caused him to get flustered and nervous regardless. That was just the type of effect someone like Danny had on him. 

They were a little over an hour into the game and Jorel was already pretty fucking drunk, chugging down the beers as if they were juice boxes. The plate of nachos had long since been finished, so now he was trying to find other ways to occupy his hands. Danny was honestly looking insanely attractive-- more attractive than usual, if you asked him. But that could always be the liquor talking. Drunk him had to disagree, because he found him to be a solid 11 out of 10 even when he was sober. "Danny. Heyyyyy, Danny." He whispered, nudging him in the arm with his elbow. 

It took quite a lot of that until Danny stopped being so absorbed in whatever was happening on TV to acknowledge Jorel's existence, raising an eyebrow and flicking him between his eyebrows. "W h a t, Jorel? There's a game going on and you're making me miss it." He didn't sound genuinely angry, but maybe just the slightest bit peeved. He didn't care-- he personally found himself to be way more important than some stupid sport on television. With a pout on his lips he scooted closer, pressing their thighs together and poking his nose. "Dunno. There's no more food so I'm getting bored. Hard to focus on whatevers happening." He whined, waving the half empty beer can around for emphasis. 

"That's because you're drinking, dumbass." He slurred, which was a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black. Although he was yet again the more sober one here, he was still far from sober. Danny hadn't of had as much to drink as Jorel had but there was still a decent amount of alcohol in his system, and that much anyone could tell by the way he was talking. Ignoring the comment he pursed his lips, cupping the others face in his hands and running his thumbs over the stubble along his jaw. "Dude, you need to shave. You'll look like a goddamn lumberjack or some shit." He laughed afterwards, finding his own statement absolutely hysterical. Seeming stunned at the close contact but quickly recovering he stuck his tongue out, deciding that look along didn't need words. 

He wasn't sure what came over himself now. Seeing Danny stick his tongue out he lunged forward, nipping the tip of it with his teeth and smiling mischievously as if he had accomplished something. "Fuck, dude. What was that for?" He snapped, keeping his tongue out and whining under his breath. "Oh, sorry." He mumbled, leaning forward to kiss it better. His lips hit a mixture of his tongue and his actual lips, and Danny slipped his tongue back into the privacy of his own mouth while a hand clamped over his lips. "Uh... um.. I.." He was stuttering at this point, avoiding eye contact with Jorel completely.

What? All he did was kiss his tongue better. Wait, now that he thought about it-- that seemed very, very gay. Romantic-y. So THAT'S why Danny was freaking the fuck out. "Did it help?" He piped out, tilting his head to the side while his lips formed a flat line. "...Sure." The statement was quiet and his hand moved down to his lap after a few minutes, cheeks still bright red. Jorel laughed like an idiot and cupped his face again, raising an eyebrow. "Kissing isn't such a big deal. Look, I'll do it again. Johnny and Charlie have done it like.. a lot. Well, a few times." He was rambling but did lean forward, pressing their lips together and keeping his jaw secured in place. 

The kiss was short and sweet as he pulled back, grabbing another beer as if what happened was no big deal. Danny tried to act that way too but he was internally screaming, and you could more than likely compare his complexion to one of a tomato. Was that really something Jorel just viewed as something close friends did? Why wasn't he informed of this sooner? It would take him DAYS to fully get over all this. Tucking his knees to his chest he chewed his bottom lip, trying to focus back on the game but his mind continued to wander. 

It was late when Jorel finally got ready to leave, stating that he would have stayed but he forgot to feed his cat that morning, and they would be very upset with him if he allowed them to go an entire day without eating much of anything. It was cute that he cared so much about his pet, like one person should. He was honestly glad that he wouldn't be staying the night-- he needed some time to get over being kissed and then try to figure out what it all meant. "I'll text you tomorrow." He yelled by the doorway, and Danny only replied with a feeble "Alright." before hearing the door shut. 

Well, this would take some getting used to. Jorel kissed him. But he was drunk. And somehow tried to imply it was something /friends/ did. He was so fucking confused. None of this even made sense anymore. Not that it made a lot of sense to begin with.


	8. Chapter 8

It was the next morning and Danny still couldn't stop touching his lips with the tips of his fingers nearly every 5 minutes, and it was slowly driving him absolutely insane. Why did that kiss have to feel so nice? He swore he felt literal sparks for that short period of time their lips were touching. Even though he had been drinking that night, he luckily remembered almost every event that transpired- especially their lip lock. Jorel still hadn't texted him yet and it was making him oddly anxious, although it was more than likely he was still asleep. After he drank quite a bit he was the exact opposite of a morning person. What if he ended up remembering too and was weirded out? He may of said it's what Johnny and Charlie did but.. they weren't Johnny and Charlie. So, there was still that constant nagging fear in the back of his head.

Whilst pacing back and forth in his kitchen he heard his phone ding in the other room, all but running over to it and immediately grabbing it to check the new notification. Oh boy, a text from Jorel. This could either be very good or very, very, bad. He sucked in his bottom lip while unlocking the screen, going over to his messages and opening the conversation. It was just a simple 'Morning.' text with a cute sun emoji next to it. Wow, that was sweet. That meant that there was a strong possibility he had gotten too drunk to remember anything in detail! Woohoo! 

'Someone's finally awake. Morning!!' He added two exclamation points for emphasis, flopping down onto the couch and holding his phone in his hands. He stared intently at the screen until it dinged again, which was obviously another text from the one and only Jorel. 'Pshhh. I'm hungover, leave me alone. U can come take care of me.' He rose an eyebrow at this, and wondered if that was a lowkey attempt at flirting. Probably not, right? There was no way he'd be hitting on him. Jorel was already well known to be a giant man child with his hangovers and this was simply a case of him being too lazy to even take care of himself. He didn't need any convincing, though. Already getting up to brush his teeth and comb his hair he sent a quick 'sureeee.' and he was off, needing to look cute for his (not but he wished it was true) boo. 

Jorel was surprised at the fact Danny was legitimately going to come over and take care of his lazy ass. He wasn't even being 100% serious when he made the comment, but if that meant he got to spend more time with him then he was okay with it. The only thing he was terrified of was both of them being awkward all over again. They had a tendency of being like that now, and it bothered him. It was all because his stupid personal feelings got involved and he let them blow out of proportion. To make things worse he kissed the poor guy. Even though he played it off as a 'bromance' type thing, it surely didn't help matters too much. Danny wasn't properly exposed to how Johnny and Charlie acted on a semi-regular basis, so his excuse was a very weak one. Oh well, the past is in the past. 

Still laying around in his underwear the doorbell suddenly rang and he whined loudly, picking up his phone and texting him to just welcome himself inside. Yelling would only take too much effort and make his throbbing head ache worse. There was a faint chuckle as he heard the front door open and close, then light footsteps getting louder and louder as they approached his bedroom door. Danny suddenly appeared in the doorway and leaned against it, a teasing smirk on his lips. "I can tell you put in a lot of effort to look presentable for me." that only made Jorel roll his eyes, keeping the blanket covering the bottom half of his body. "I haven't gotten out of bed yet. 'M too lazy." He rolled onto his side, smushing his cheek against the pillows. 

Danny walked up to the bed and squatted down, at eye-level with him again which honestly made his stomach turn. Now every time they made eye contact he had the slight urge to move forward and kiss him, and there could come a time where he can't hold himself back and that actually happens. Fuck, Danny looked good today. He always looked good. He thought this much too often but it wasn't something he could resist, as much as he might want to. "Need anything, then?" He tilted his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows a lot. Aw, he seemed so concerned. It was really sweet. He was complete boyfriend material. Everything was awful. 

"Uh... yeah. Some advil and a glass of water? Advil is on the kitchen counter I think." He wiped the 'sleep' out of his eyes, fluttering his eyelashes as he tried to properly adjust to the living world. Danny stood up again and dusted himself off, jokingly ruffling the hair on Jorel's head, doing the finger guns, and leaving the room. Oh fuck, why did he have to do that? Was he TRYING to kill him? His heart could only handle so much in one day. As much as he hated to admit it, he definitely still had partial morning wood and being in his underwear was not making this any easier to conceal. Looked like he wasn't getting up at all for a while. If Danny kept his charming self at it, he'd never be leaving the bed because his boner would never reside. Boners were annoying. 

Danny had returned at some point while the grumpy Italian was internally yelling at himself for being so easily aroused, nudging him with the glass of water and tablets in his other hand. Jorel sat up and bunched the blankets around his nether regions, which surely looked pretty obvious but it wasn't being pointed out. While taking the pills and waiting for them to do their magic he layed back, snuggling into the sheets and humming contently. "Why can't I just lay here all day? This would be great." He let out a happy sigh, and the other sat himself down on the bed beside him. "Because you have a guest here and I'd be bored just watching you lay in your bed." He piped out, making a valid point. "Lay here with me then." A blush appeared on Danny's cheeks but he made no further comments, laying down and putting his hands behind his head. 

Then they did just that. They layed there, enjoying the sounds of each others breathing and other little noises. This felt really couple-y yet again but something felt like it just belonged-- like they were meant to be like that. Maybe he should just stop being a pussy and make a move at some point. But how could he do that without being too obvious about it? All he wanted was to see if Danny was interested in him at all before he went and did something bold. He began to twiddle with his thumbs, and nearly panicked when he watched Danny crawl under the covers. There was still that whole 'him wearing nothing but underwear' thing going on down there. He should have said something sooner. 

"Lets nap. I'm tired again. Your fault." Danny sounded like a little kid and it melted his heart. Reaching over to grab his phone he licked his lips, thinking if they were taking a nap at all that it'd be a good idea to set an alarm so that they weren't waking up late in the evening instead. "How long? I'm setting a.. thingy." The word 'alarm' escaped his vocabulary entirely as the brunette scooted closer to him, clearly for the sake of body heat. "Couple of hours? It's still early so.. we can be up by mid-afternoon. Dunno." He was still trying to get comfortable as he said this, now partially touching Jorel's mostly naked body and seeming unphazed by it. "..Mkay." He forced between sealed lips, setting aforementioned alarm and setting his phone down on his nightstand. 

He stayed laying on his back but ended up snaking an arm around Danny's upper waist, closer to his shoulders as to not come off overly romantic. Simply some bro love. Mega bro love. With questionable underlying levels of homo. "Night. Or... morning. Whateverrrr." Danny drawled out, snuggling against Jorel's (mostly) naked side and yawning. How was he not bothered by his lack of clothing? Well, as long as the most important part of him was covered he guessed it didn't matter. 

Tightening his grip around Danny he chuckled at the stupid comments, yawning a bit himself. They were contagious! "You too." 

And with that he was off to dream land, with a cute boy secured to his side.


	9. Chapter 9

The alarm began to blare which woke both of them up, Jorel groaning and reaching over to dismiss it. He was enjoying his dream, why the hell did it have to end so soon?. It was only when he looked down and saw Danny's head of hair on his chest that he realized his dreams weren't necessarily better than reality. "Don't wanna get out of bed." He heard him mumble, a smile appearing on his lips. "You're gonna have to eventually, dude. I kinda have to piss." He wasn't lying-- he would much rather just snuggle Danny all day but bodily functions were kind of a major thing, as much as he wished they weren't. 

Sluggishly rolling onto his back he huffed, fixing his unruly bed head. "Fine. I can hold myself." He grumbled, but chuckled a bit afterwards. Aaaa, he only wished he could hold him all day without being weird. What a cute piece of shit. Jorel forced himself out of bed and quickly grabbed a pair of pyjama pants before disappearing into the washroom to relieve himself, leaving Danny alone to get a few more minutes of shut eye. They were coming off as the biggest domestic couple right now, it was almost insane. He took a moment to wash his face and look at least a bit more attractive, getting his teeth brushed and pants on before reappearing. "Wow, you haven't moved an inch. Impressive." He noted, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, fuck off." 

The Italian male grinned and jumped on the bed, starting to tickle Danny's side just to see if he could get a reaction out of him. He did, which was a series of giggles while feebly swatting at his hands to get him to stop. Goddammit that was the cutest thing that he had seen all day so far. "Fine, fine. I'm getting the fuck up." He complained under his breath as he stood up properly, stretching a bit and tilting his head to the side. "So, what now?" He asked, which was honestly a good question. What DID they do now?. He really wanted to suggest making out but knew that wasn't appropriate, so he kept his mouth shut on the subject. "Wanna.. go to the park? It's nice out." Did that ever sound like a cliché date or what?.

Danny paused, staring down at the ground for a brief second. Jorel just asked if he wanted to go to the park. What types of 'just friends' went to the park on a whim? This sounded so much like a date to him that he was seeing stars. "Yeah, yes. Parks are fun. Will this one have a pond or anything? I really like seeing the ducks." He was sure to have a light blush dancing along the apples of his cheeks but prayed it wouldn't be noticed, because he honestly didn't have an excuse if it was questioned by him. Wasn't his fault Jorel was being sweet. "I think so. Dunno. If there are no ducks I sincerely apologize." He pretended to bow sarcastically, which even made Danny smile (regardless of how corny it might have been.)

Ugh, that meant he had to put a shirt on. Shrugging his shoulders he walked over and grabbed a random tee from the drawer, then finding a miss-matched pair of socks so he could actually wear his sneakers. Just to be safe he grabbed his phone and wallet, grabbing a sweater on his way out with Danny on his heels. "I really hope we see ducks." He said, walking right in step with Jorel. Wow, he was VERY adamant about seeing some ducks today. "What, is seeing me not enough?" He teased, receiving a light elbowing to the side. "You're alright, I guess." Jeez Danny, way to hurt his very fragile ego. Heh. 

Arriving at the park he was in luck to see that there was indeed a large duck pond towards the middle of the open area, and Danny immediately began to migrate towards it. "I can't believe you're actually showing me ducks. Hurry up!" He exclaimed, tugging him by the sleeve of his sweater with a grin on his face. Jorel allowed himself to be dragged and took the time to stare at the other mans face, just happy to see that he could do something nice for him and that he appeared to appreciate it. Just for.. reasons he quickly snapped a picture with his phone, the sight of this something he was definitely wanting to keep in a photographic image. He looked breathtaking. 

He stood back while Danny took the time to get up close and personal with the ducks he'd mentioned so much earlier, Jorel definitely taking the opportunity to snap photos of that too. "Come here! They're friendly. I think." He furrowed his eyebrows, silently wishing he head bread crumbs or anything else to try feed them. How disappointing. Jorel squatted down beside him and rested his chin against the palm of his hand, paying more attention to Danny than their feathered buddies below. He was MUCH more entertaining, in his own opinion. He never knew someone could become so happy and animated over a specific animal like a Duck before. Usually it was either dogs or cats-- things that were much more common. 

But Danny was full of surprises, clearly. Suddenly springing up he helped Jorel to his feet as well, rocking on his heels. "Wanna go sit under that tree? It's got a ton of shade." He suggested, and it was then he realized wearing a sweater probably wasn't the best idea due to the fact it was pretty hot out and he was sweating a lot. A ton of shade sounded like a great idea. "Mhm." He mumbled, making his way over to it and sliding down against the thick trunk. The brunette joined him and placed his hands in his lap, drumming his fingers against his thigh. "This was nice of you to do." He commented, keeping his eyes looking straight ahead of him while a smile creeped up the corners of his lips. 

"Yeah, I guess it was. Did it make you happy?" He asked, twiddling his thumbs nervously. That didn't sound obvious or anything. Danny paused, reaching over and grabbing Jorel's hand. "Mhm." He mimicked what Jorel had said earlier, entangling their fingers together and giving his hand a gentle squeeze. Were.. were they holding hands? Was he supposed to say anything? Point it out? He was panicking on the inside whilst simultaneously keeping his cool on the outside. Not knowing what else to do he leaned against him, placing his head on Danny's shoulder and huffing under his breath. 

Danny caressed the top of Jorel's hand with the underside of his thumb, silently appreciating how soft his hands were in general. "I could honestly fall asleep again." He piped out, which was the first statement either of them had said since they began holding hands. He had to agree with him, the whole scene was very tranquil. The park was nearly empty besides a few stragglers here and there, and the breeze was starting to pick up which made it feel less awful outside. "Me too. But I don't need people watching me sleep. That's creepy." That earned a chuckle from the man beside him, who elbowed him in the side again. "You're creepy." 

They didn't speak too much after that, just continued to sit under that tree with their hands interlocked and heads leaning on one another. There was no denying that this was a very, very couple-y thing and sooner or later he would be forced to man up and address the situation-- whether he wanted to or not. it wasn't that he didn't WANT to, he was just.. awful at addressing these types of things. So, unless Danny decided to be bold and do something, this might take a while. 

Dammit, Jorel.


	10. Chapter 10

Due to Jorel being a fucking idiot they eventually stopped holding hands and parted ways, with himself mumbling something like "see you later" while speed walking in the direction of his house- completely avoiding eye contact. He felt pretty guilty about it but he just.. didn't know what to say to him. Whenever he tried to think of anything he became ridiculously tongue tied and his entire vocabulary vanished from thin air at the drop of a hat. Now Danny probably thought something was wrong with him because Jorel wasn't good with anything when it came to romance. It was just ten times more difficult when it came to the brunette in question. Mostly because he was a guy.

He felt like due to the whole hand holding situation that DANNY had imitated that it was safe to say he might like him a little bit. Although he was far from an expert on love, that didn't seem like something you did with just a friend. Well, at least not in that specific context. That still didn't seem to make things easier, even though it should. It was Jorel himself that was over-complicating everything. He really couldn't help it. But now he needed to think of his next course of action, whether he planned on making a move or not. If he did, how he would go about doing it without making a fool out of himself. 

He began to pace back and forth in his bedroom, biting down on his bottom lip almost hard enough to draw blood. Ugh, why couldn't Danny just go and make a move first? It would make things /so/ much easier on him. Time to man up, Jorel. They had just hung out-- would it be too soon to have him come over for the second time? Maybe. But they were pretty close now, so it wouldn't be like he'd say no. Danny never mentioned having plans or anything. Maybe he should cook him something. He didn't really know how to cook anything fancy... or he could order Chinese. See, that was MUCH more up his alley. 

Picking up his phone he took a moment to hesitate, staring at Danny's contact name in his phone while his thumb drummed nervously against the back of the case. Why did this seem a lot more complicated now that a potential relationship was on the line? It sucked. Snapping out of it he opened their messages and sent him a casual 'come over again I'm ordering Chinese food' text and set it down again, scurrying off to find the phone number for said Chinese place. He was really vouching on Danny saying yes, or else he would end up with more food than he could consume in one sitting. That was a lie, but if he ate that much he would definitely hate himself after. 

The text came a long, grueling 10 minutes later. Time seemed to be moving so slowly now, so 10 minutes really felt like 10 hours. To his luck Danny had simply said 'Sure!! :)' which he took as a good sign. He used not only two exclamation marks, but even a smiley face this time. That could just be him over analyzing things, but he totally took that as him wanting to spend more time with Jorel. Or he could just want free food. It was probably just the free food. Food made anyone excited. 

The doorbell went off and he wasn't sure if it was the delivery guy or Danny, so he threw on a pair of pants just in case it happened to be the former. Once he threw open the door he was met with a grin brighter than the sun itself, and Danny stepped inside while hooking his sunglasses along the collar of his tank top. "Food hasn't arrived yet?" He asked, removing his shoes and raising an eyebrow. Of COURSE he'd ask about the food the moment he set foot in the house. Jorel only smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not yet. It should be here soon. I wasn't sure what you liked so I got a few different things.." He mumbled, and Danny wrapped his arms around his waist and buried his head against the crook of his neck. "Thanks. I'm not picky, so you'll be safe." He pulled away, smiling and welcoming himself to a drink in his kitchen.

Did he just hug him??? For ordering Chinese food??? Wow, he should bribe him with food more often. Jorel felt himself blushing as he followed after him, leaning against the archway. "So we've officially known each other long enough for you to welcome yourself to my fridge?" he teased, flashing a tiny smirk. Danny seemed unphazed, pulling out a bottle of flavoured water and twisting the cap off it. "Yep." He piped out, brushing past him in order to get to the couch. For the first time in his life, he could've sworn he felt sparks fly.

Jorel was just about to wander after him like a lost puppy before the doorbell rang again, and this time could be no one other than the delivery guy with their desperately needed food. Running into his bedroom and finding his wallet he opened the door and grabbed the large bag of food, paying him the desired total and even adding a little bit of a tip. "Food's here!" He shouted, going over to the counter in order to properly unpackage everything. He wasn't over exaggerating when he said he got a 'few' things for Danny. "Dude, did you get one of everything or what? This must've cost an insane amount of money. You should've asked me to help split the money." He frowned, looking at the almost dozen small and large cartons of food. "Nah, it was 60. That place is pretty cheap. I'll have to live off these for as long as possible, though." He shrugged, knowing this wasn't a wise investment but.. what's done is done. 

Danny couldn't do anything except give him a disapproving look and start grabbing small amounts of whatever looked good, not wanting to have too much since this was all food Jorel bought and would need to ration out in order to make it last. "You're so dumb." He mumbled, shoveling a fork full of fried rice into his mouth. Jorel rolled his eyes, ruffling the others hair. "Don't judge me. I was trying to bribe you so that you'd spend time with me." He played it off as a joke but he WAS partially serious, and that was apparent. "You don't need to bribe me. I like spending time with you regardless." He smiled, licking some sauce off his lip. That was.. hot?.

The Italian continued to munch on various partial meals, eventually putting the leftovers away for a later date. He spun around to find Danny only a few feet from himself, rocking on the heels of his feet. "Wanna go lay down and stuff?" He asked, tilting his head to the side and batting his eyelashes a bit. Did 'stuff' imply hardcore cuddling? Because if so, stuff was fine. If stuff meant even more than that he was fine with that as well. "Mhm. My stomach kinda hurts. Hopefully I don't throw up on you." He chuckled, walking into his bedroom and peeling off his pants again. 

Flopping down on his bed Danny quickly followed suit-- also pants-less this time. Well, this was different. Jorel wrapped an arm around his shoulders automatically, and Danny curled himself against the raven haired man whilst tangling their bare legs together. "You're warm." He commented, free hand roaming up and down his clothed chest absentmindedly. "So are you." He retorted, suddenly rolling onto his side and facing the vocalist. Woah, this was really close. 

They started into each others eyes for a long while, small smiles on their lips. Wondering which one of them would crack first. It was Jorel, surprisingly. With a sudden burst of energy he moved forward and pressed their lips together, closing his eyes and placing one hand on the back of Danny's head. The kiss was reciprocated immediately, even being so bold as to slither his tongue into Jorel's mouth. Damn, who knew kissing him would be so intense? He should have done this A LOT sooner. 

They should do this more often. As in, everyday.


	11. Chapter 11

It had been a little more than a few weeks since the kiss in Jorel's bedroom had taken place. He didn't regret it and he hoped Danny didn't, it just hadn't been mentioned because it never came up. That night they passed out shortly after their lip lock and he left the next morning, while Jorel was still half asleep. He didn't really appear to be acting any different, although he might've been distancing himself the slightest amount. Danny tended to make sure he wasn't alone in the same room as him most of the time. Why it was like that, he had no idea. 

Honestly, it wasn't his problem if Danny regretted kissing him. All that meant was that they were to keep their relationship strictly professional, and he couldn't pin point where their friendship would stand. If he had to stop hanging out with him and only be friendly when he had to, then that's how it would go. Jorel tried to avoid letting himself get hung up over break ups or rejections, it all seemed so pointless to him. But he wouldn't deny that he would be upset for a while on the inside. He didn't open himself up to anyone all that often and because Danny was so special to him, it definitely wouldn't be just the usual rejections he's had in the past. Maybe he was just taking some time to think about everything. Neither of them voiced what they wanted to happen, after all. 

Tonight they'd been booked to play a show at a nearby venue as part of a recently announced mini-tour along the west coast, which wasn't huge but it was a healthy sized venue. They were used to their label booking them for random shows/tours at this point, and it was obvious it was just so they could make some extra cash. It was also Danny's first official show and it would give their fans a taste of how their new sound was. They also had two newly recorded singles that had been released a couple of days ago, and it was told that they would be preforming those as well. They weren't fully in charge of what they were allowed to do, and Jorel never had much of an idea of what was happening regardless. Label's were very controlling and it kinda pissed him off, but he didn't have any room to complain. 

Jorel sunk into a small black sofa back stage, the random local band already doing sound check in the foreground. He had never heard of them before and they just sounded like some generic metalcore band, which he didn't exactly have a problem with. The rest of the guys were slowly beginning to trickle in, and of course Danny was the first to appear. He glanced over at the couch and smiled sheepishly, and he appeared to be debating if he should sit down or not. The Italian lightly patted the spot beside him, implying that he could sense his indecision and was making the choice for him. 

Danny shuffled over and sat down, holding his new mask in his hands and twirling it around. "That's nice. When did you get it?" He piped out, striking conversation immediately. It threw the other off, as his hands went rigid and he kept his eyes peeled on the floor. "A few days ago. Just in time, I guess. Why did we only find out about this less than a week in advance? Didn't really give us any time to plan or hype it up. I'm not expecting a good turn out." He mumbled under his breath, furrowing his eyebrows together. Jorel shrugged, draping an arm over the back of the couch and barely grazing Danny's shoulders. "Labels do that sometimes. They claim it builds our reputation. Don't worry about it. Are you nervous?" He asked, a small smirk on his lips.

"A little bit. Everyone will just be comparing me to your old vocalist and start complaining about how we sound totally different or that they aren't my songs. Yadda yadda yadda." He made hand gestures while he spoke, which actually made Jorel laugh a bit. "Probably. It'll blow over eventually. Fans will always do that, but people will chill the fuck out when our new album comes out. You'll do great, though. Don't worry about it." He grabbed his shoulder, giving it a gentle rub. Danny tensed up again and bit the inside of his cheek, tucking some stray hairs behind his ear. "I just feel pressured to do amazing. But no matter how great or not I do, I know people will bitch and moan. It's annoying." He let out a loud sigh, leaning against him and placing his head on Jorel's shoulder. 

This was weird and made him nervous as hell. Just play it cool, J. It's fine. You're fine. "But there will also be fans that will love you. And you'll bring in brand new fans that will love you. Focus on the positives, dude." He tried his best to be encouraging, but it certainly wasn't his strong suit. He just wanted to make Danny feel good about himself. Jorel began to hum under his breath, kissing the top of the others head while they sat there in silence (well, not including the screeching and guitar playing in the background). 

The show had gone amazing. The reception they received from all the fans was insanely positive, and no one seemed to care that it was Danny singing their songs instead of Deuce. Of course there were a couple that tried to shout obscenities and negative comments, but they were eventually escorted out. Why someone would buy tickets just to whine about how bad a band was, he had no idea. Seemed like a complete waste of money to him. That wasn't anything he needed to concern himself with, and he was more focused on the positives than he negatives like he told Danny only moments ago. 

A sweaty Danny came backstage shortly after, wiping his face with the bottom of his shirt. "That went a lot better than I expected it to. I think they like me." He stated, rocking on his heels with a big grin on his face. Damn, how could one human being look so fucking adorable and sexy at the same time?. Jorel clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Mhm. Some fangirls better make sure they stay away, though. I'll get jealous." He mumbled, turning on his heel and walking away afterwards. 

Danny stood there, stunned as he watched Jorel walk away from him and eventually leave the venue altogether. What just happened? Did he just say that he would get JEALOUS over girls hitting on him? Why would he need to get jealous?. So many questions were swirling around in his head, and he could swear they were slowly giving him a migraine. It was just a joke, right?. He knew they did kiss at one point, but he pushed it off as Jorel just messing with him. That's probably what he was doing again. He even said Charlie and Johnny kissed as a joke and acted like a couple all the time. If he was being serious, surely he would have made some type of effort into being in a relationship with him. 

Rolling his eyes he made his way home himself, still needing to finish packing the rest of his things. Luckily they were only playing 6 or 7 tour dates this time around, since they only had 2 new songs out which wasn't exactly enough to do an entire US tour. That could wait until they had an entire album finished and released. But now he was worried. He would be stuck on the road with Jorel for almost 2 weeks, and now he had no idea where their friendship was standing. If he was messing with him, that meant he would be doing it all tour and Danny wasn't sure he could handle that. He genuinely had a crush on Jorel, and could only handle so many little kisses and teasing comments before it drove him crazy. 

He could always just.. ask about it. But that could ruin everything.

Fuck his life.


	12. Chapter 12

Danny looked up at the tour bus and cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow. It wasn't insanely fancy by any standards, but it was better than anything he'd ever had the pleasure of riding in. Maybe this tour wouldn't be too bad, after all. Around 5 minutes later all that changed when Jorel appeared with a suitcase lazily dragging behind him, and the whole 'tour not being so bad' idea went out the window. Oh yeah. That whole.. Jorel thing was still going on. He rubbed his forearm and simply ignored him, tossing his bag into the small luggage compartment and trudging inside, shutting the door behind him. 

Jorel had been putting his own luggage away when he heard the door slam, raising an eyebrow and frowning a bit. Why was he acting so weird? Was it just pre-tour jitters or what?. As far as he was concerned, this was Danny's first tour with a semi-large band. He could be wrong. He hadn't actually looked into his old bands background too much, just out of his own laziness. He shrugged his shoulders and went in after him, seeing the rest of the band was already on the bus, due to the evidence of messiness surrounding him. Probably off in their bunks, getting some sleep while they still could.

Danny looked over his shoulder when he heard the door creek open, making direct eye contact with Jorel and nearly yelping. "Hey." He squeaked out, spinning on his heel to face the other male with his hands interlocked behind his back. "Uh, hey. You seem nervous, dude." He commented, using his hand to gesture up and down his body. Yeah, he probably wasn't acting very casual right now. Wasn't exactly making him look any less obvious. After a slight coughing fit he shook his head, fixing his hair while he spoke. "Nervous? Nah. You just startled me, I guess." He muttered, which actually made Jorel SMIRK. Oh, this wasn't good.

"Whatever you say, Danny. Stop adjusting everything, you look great." He added the compliment and grinned, walking past him in order to get into the bunk area. Before he left he grabbed his face and pressed a sloppily kiss to the apple of his cheek, continuing to walk at a casual pace to his designated area. Wait, what?!

This left Danny more stunned than he had been yesterday, and he raised a hand up to wipe away the saliva on the side of his face. There was NO way that just happened. He had to be dreaming this all. That's it. He'll just close his eyes, wake up, and still be in his bed at home. Tour hasn't even started yet. Everything would be fine. So, he did just that. Still standing in the middle of the room he squeezed his eyes shut, praying that he would wake up and this living nightmare would be over. 1...2...3...

Aaaand he was still stuck on the bus. Okay, so that wasn't a dream. Jorel DID give him a compliment and kiss his cheek out of nowhere. Okay, what the fuck, man?. This wasn't something he could just ignore. If he kept trying to ignore it, surely it would get worse or happen more often. He didn't know if he could handle that. So, he could just tackle the problem at hand. Taking a deep breath he walked down the narrow hallway, which held bunks on either side of it. Now he had the job of finding out just which one Jorel was hiding in. He couldn't just start pulling curtains back and shoving his head inside them.

He paused, wondering if he could just.. listen for him. He would be the only one still awake or moving around, which would make all of this a whole hell of a lot easier. There were 5 closed curtains, and one Jorel. This was stupid already. He couldn't just sit here and wait for Jorel to come to him. Time to take a wild guess, and hope he didn't piss any of the sleeping beauties off.

Deciding using eenie-meenie-minie-moe he pulled one back, finding Jorel laying on his back with a pair of headphones on his ears. Oh, at least he got it correct on the first try. Danny bit the inside of his cheek, poking him in the arm gently. Come on, you fucker. He has something important to talk about. "Hm?" The Italian hummed out, pulling one side off his ear to hear him better. Rolling his eyes he nudged him to move over, welcoming himself into his bunk. To his luck Jorel complied, pressing himself against the wall and letting the headphones hang around his neck completely. "What's up?" He asked, while Danny wiggled himself into the bunk and rolled onto his side.

"What's UP? I could ask you the same thing. What was up with that.. stuff out there? Do you always randomly kiss people on the cheek like that? And tell them you'll get jealous?. Look, sorry if I'm over-analyzing this.. but.. I'm not used to being treated like this. It's bothering me. I just need to know if you're kidding around." He was whispering just in case anyone was actually awake, not wanting them to listen in on the conversation-- it was pretty serious. Jorel's face went through various emotions, settling on a neutral one while he looked down at his lap. Fuck, maybe it was a bad idea to even bring it up. Or, maybe he just went about it in a poor fashion. Time to retreat.

Just as he was about to roll out of the confined space Jorel spoke up, making a strangled noise initially. "I'm.. gonna take a nap." He muttered, rolling onto his side and facing the wall. Danny was embarrassed, and more than a little bit upset. He basically took the lack of direct response as a confirmation that everything he'd been doing for the past month was just one ongoing joke, and he couldn't deny that he was heart broken. He genuinely was starting to fall for Jorel pretty intensely. This fucking sucked. He sighed loudly, flipping him off although he couldn't see it. Rolling out of his bunk he stood up, searching for the free one which happened to be right at floor level. Wow, how fitting.

Danny got down on his knees and crawled into his bunk, turning to face the wall and letting out a shaky breath. What a fucking asshole. Who just kisses someone and proceeds to mess with them for two weeks?. Did he just LOOK like an easy target or something?. There was no way in hell he was gonna cry over this. He knew better than to cry over stupid boys. But he REALLY thought he saw something in Jorel. He always seemed special, even from first meeting him. But, it turned out that he was just like anyone else. They found amusement in messing with people's emotions. Wow, did he ever have a shitty judgement of character.

Jorel was currently in the same boat, ironically. God, why couldn't he just tell him how he felt? He probably looked like the world's biggest dick to him right now. He couldn't help it. As soon as Danny spilled his feelings out to him he froze up, and forgot how to speak. He wasn't the type of guy that ever talked about his feelings. He was used to people just understanding how he felt without him having to do anything. Danny was obviously VERY different. He needed direct confirmation, something that Jorel couldn't provide for him. He just.. needed to find a way to confirm how he felt in a way Danny would understand.

He liked Danny so much. He could go on and on about how amazing he was and everything he loved about him in his head, but there was something that happened in between his brain and his mouth where he drew a complete blank. His words would either become jumbled or he would blurt out the next thing that came to his head, which happened to be taking a nap this time around. He would be beating himself up over this all night. Ugh, fuck his fucking life.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long timeline jump cuz why not?

Finally, the mini-tour was over. It had been another month of bullshit, and Danny was honestly glad it was over. Him and Jorel hadn't really spoken too much since the bunk incident at the beginning of the tour, and had been tip-toeing around each other ever since. They kept it friendly, of course. Spoke when necessary, tried to not be too spaced out during their set to avoid people suspecting anything weird was going on. But... things were just different now. He couldn't see them being as close as they used to be any time soon, or ever. He would just have to settle with being solely band mates and maybe slight acquaintances for how ever long the band stayed together. That seemed.. doable. There were 4 other guys he could be best buddies with, after all. 

Due to the fact it was their last show, they all decided to head out to the nearest bar to celebrate. Danny stayed near the front of the group whereas Jorel stayed near the back, simply minding his own business. They would have to talk at some point during the night, there was no way they could steer clear of each other the entire time. But, he supposed he was just putting it back for as long as he could. It hurt his feelings a bit, but he had been doing the exact same thing himself. So, there was no point in being upset over it. That would just be hypocritical. 

He stared up at the neon sign of the bar they stopped at and sighed under his breath, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pleather jacket. Better to just get this night over with. The quicker he was able to get drunk, the better. He socialized with Jorel best while he was intoxicated. Danny immediately made a bee-line for the bar, sitting down in an empty stool and tapping his fingers against the wooden area in front of him. The place was pretty packed tonight, but it was the weekend. Most bars were usually packed on the weekend. That just meant he would have to wait his turn. 

Taking a quick glance back at the rest of the room he spotted Jorel, sitting in a booth near the back of the room with girls already swarming him like moths to a flame. Ouch, he regretted looking at that. Didn't Jorel say that fangirls couldn't hit on him, or he would get jealous?. Oh wait, he'd been kidding. It still didn't seem very fair. It wasn't intentional, but Danny himself hadn't really bothered to hook up with anyone on tour. He wasn't much of a 'one night stands' kind of guy. There just seemed to be so many risks associated with them. What if someone you slept with had an STD? Or the condom broke and they got pregnant?. Being the paranoid fuck he was, that didn't look like a chance he wanted to take. 

Jorel didn't look like he cared about illegitimate children or diseases, though. There was one girl half in his lap and he had his arm draped around the other one, a shit eating grin on his lips. Fuck, that grinded his gears. He whipped his head around at the sound of the bartenders voice, ordering himself a round of shots. No girly drinks for this fella. Hard liquor only tonight. He sure as hell needed it. Downing a shot he threw his head back and stared at the ceiling, licking stray drops of alcohol from his lips. He really related to.. any teenage girl ever right now. Boys SUCKED. 

Shots upon shots upon shots. He was getting fucking wasted, and his wallet was quickly becoming empty. Oopsie. Looked like he was living off instant noodles when he got home. He slid off the stool and tried to stand up straight, then attempted to look through the tightly packed crowd for anyone he knew. The only person he could make out was Jorel, who was still in that same booth but with a different set of girls and Johnny sitting at the end. Might as well make his way over there, at least Johnny would be there to hold him back from exploding with jealousy. 

Shoving himself through the crowd he plunked himself down right in the booth on the side Johnny was sitting on, now directly across from Jorel and.. whatever the girls names were. He didn't really care enough to try and learn them, so he wasn't going to ask. "Hey." He mumbled, glaring daggers at Jorel and then flashing a smile towards the other band mate in his vicinity. Johnny seemed to notice the mini exchange and rose an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it. He was probably too drunk to care. "Hey. Should I leave..?" He asked, and Danny quickly shook his head. "Noooo no. You're fine right here." He pat his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Johnny was pretty good looking. Maybe he would be interested.... 

As if on queue Jorel gasped, slamming his empty glass down on the table. "Guys, look. It's Danny! Danny's my boyfriend. Hey Danny!" He slurred, and Danny felt his heart stop. Where the hell was this coming from? They'd barely spoken for a month straight. They were FAR from being boyfriends. But he was drunk, so he could let it slide for now. "Hello." He mumbled, rubbing his temples and resting his chin against his hand, both elbows on the table. "Do you guys like him?? Ya better not, because he's my boyfriend. Don't get any bright ideassss." He laughed after that, and the girls seemed to drunk to even comprehend what he was saying, so all they did was giggle and lightly slap his arm. 

Ugh, how fucking obnoxious could he be?. "I'm not your boyfriend, man. We're barely even f r i e n d s." He was slurring probably just as badly as Jorel was, but his mind was still in the right place. Jorel's face suddenly dropped, a frown on his face. "What? Since when?" He shook the empty glass in his hand, clinking the remaining ice around absentmindedly. "Since tour started. Don't know where this whole 'boyfriend' thing came from. But.. could ya drop it?" He snuck a glance at Johnny to see he appeared VERY uncomfortable, and he felt bad for the guy. He was just stuck in the middle of a weird fight that had nothing to do with him. 

It was with that Johnny grabbed a girl from the booth and slid out, with Danny getting out of his seat for him to do so. He sat back down and scooted beside Jorel and the remaining girl that stayed behind, chewing the inside of his cheek. "But you're my boyfriend. Right? We kissed! I remember!" He practically shouted that, and nearly half the bar turned their heads to see where the voice came from. Danny sunk down into the booth, partially hiding himself in his jacket. "I'm not your boyfriend. We kissed a really long time ago. You told me Johnny and Charlie do it all the time as a joke." He grumbled, and he smiled a bit at the sight of the remaining girl detaching herself from Jorel and making her way onto the dancefloor. Now it was just the two of them. Grand. 

The Italian wrapped an arm around Danny's waist, hand sitting just below his belly button. "Yeah but, it was different. Right? You're my boyfriend. Don't you like me?" He luckily wasn't yelling anymore, and that was one thing he was grateful for. "I'm not your boyfriend, stop saying that. Doesn't make it true." He avoided answering the second part, mostly because he had less of a filter when he was drunk and would end up going on a rant about just how much he DID like Jorel. "But.." He whined, huffing a bit under his breath. "I'd be a really good one. Right?" He seemed to be using the same phrases a lot. Wide vocabulary, Jorel. "You would. Are you done yet?" He snapped, getting annoyed by the whole thing. It was just really upsetting to be called his boyfriend over and over again. 

"Then let me be your boyfriend! If I'd be a good one, why can't we be boyfriends? Not like you're dating anyone else." He nodded, as if his logic made any sense. "I'm not going to be your boyfriend for the sake of dating someone. That's stupid." He swatted Jorel's hand away, instructing him to keep his hands to himself. "Yer difficult. I'd be a really good boyfriend. Don't know why you don't like me." He mumbled that more to himself than out loud, and had the expression of a wounded puppy on his face. Yep, he officially regretted coming over here at all. 

Sliding out of the booth he dusted himself off, and felt something hit him in the back. "Wear my hat. You'll look good. I need my boyfriend to look cute." It seemed the constant repeating of 'I'm not your boyfriend' had went through one ear and out the other. He gave up. Securing the snap back on his head he sighed, patting his pockets to make sure he still had everything important before walking away. Time to get the fuck home already. 

Getting on the bus for the last time after a long walk he looked in the mirror, deciding he would be keeping the hat until further notice. He looked good in it. Jorel was the one that gave it to him in the first place. 

What an idiot.


	14. Chapter 14

Danny looked in the mirror the next morning at home, he dark circles under his eyes showing from the lack of sleep from the night before on the bus. He had maybe gotten 4 hours of sleep the entire trip home, due to the road being bumpy and constantly stirring him in and out of slumber. It was awful. But if he slept now, his entire sleep schedule would be thrown off for at least a week, and he didn't want that. He sluggishly shuffled his way into the living room where his suitcase layed abandoned, zipping it open and raising an eyebrow. Something was.. very off here. 

He picked up the prime suspect, twirling it around his middle finger. This wasn't his hat. He recognized it immediately, though. This specific hat belonged to Jorel, and it was one he wore fairly often. Why was it in HIS suitcase?. It was while he twirled it around his finger and stared off into space it clicked, and he nearly shot the accessory across the room. "I want my boyfriend to look cute." The statement echoed through his head, and he shook off the goosebumps forming. Oh yeah, THAT'S why he had his hat. He must've put it in his suitcase while he was still drunk and forgot about it when he was dropped off. Should he return it? Maybe. 

Searching around the house for his phone he picked it up, realizing it was on 10% battery and nearly screeching whilst plugging it into the nearest charger. It was only then that he sent Jorel a text, which was one of the first ones since the tour started. Their last conversation was simply "The bus is picking you up soon." "Thanks." Yeah, they hadn't been on the closest terms, obviously. He tapped his fingers against the side of his phone, hesitating for a while before finally sending "I think I accidentally packed your hat. Want me to drop it off or something?" He pressed sent, putting the device down and pacing back and forth. He never knew sending such a simple text would seem so difficult before. 

The response was surprisingly immediate, and he squinted while opening the message. "I remember giving it to you last night, haha. That would be nice." He nearly gasped, hoping that giving him the hat was ALL that he remembered. Not /why/ he gave him the hat in the first place. Oh well, he didn't plan on asking if he did or not. Danny looked down at his current outfit and decided it was good enough to stop by Jorel's house for a few minutes. "Alright. Is now okay?" He didn't want to just assume and show up when he wasn't wanted. It wouldn't help matters very much. "Yeah." Well, that answered his question. Quickly searching the house for his keys he grabbed the hat and left the house as soon as he'd entered it, tossing the hat into the passenger seat and pulling out of the driveway. 

Now that they were both sober, their altercation wouldn't be the same as the night before. At least Jorel wouldn't be throwing around the 'boyfriend' term so freely when it came to him. It still kinda hurt to even think about it. He shook it off, turning down the street and putting his foot on the gas. Everything would be fine. He would show up, knock on the door, give him the hat, and leave. Simple enough. Yeah, he could do that. Of course he could. He wasn't a fucking baby. 

Well, not until he actually pulled up to his street. Now he was the biggest baby alive. He looked over at the hat while pulling up to the driveway, taking a deep breath and grabbing it before exiting the vehicle. "You can do this, Danny. No big deal." He gave himself a mini pep talk, clutching the hat against his chest and taking little baby steps to the front door. Another deep breath. One.. two.. three.. knock. He tapped his knuckles against the wooden door, taking a step back to avoid the door whacking him in the face. There was shuffling heard from the other side, which implied Jorel was on his way to the door. 

The door opened, and Jorel looked just as tired as Danny did. At least he wasn't the only one that suffered. He stepped off to the side, making a vague gesture to welcome him inside. Oh, he was being invited to stay for a while? He wasn't expecting that. If he was, he might have changed his clothes first. He smelled awful. Nodding a bit he quickly stepped inside, still holding the hat so tight that his knuckles were white. "Why did I have it in the first place?" was the first thing he blurted out, and his eyes widened. Oops, not the best way to start off conversation. "Dunno. I remember throwing it at you and then you left. Forgot to ask for it back, or something." He shrugged, shutting the door and stepping past him and into the kitchen. "Want anything to eat? I was just gonna have some breakfast. It's just cereal, by the way." Jorel smirked, a chuckle leaving his lips. What had him so friendly? Before all this, they barely spoke more than three words. 

"Um.. sure. I know this sounds stupid, but if I'm staying for a bit could I use your shower? I smell like shit. I wasn't expecting to come inside." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck and dropping the hat on the nearby table. Jorel seemed unphazed by the question, giving him a thumbs up. "Go for it. Can't have my b---guest smelling like shit." He laughed again, but sounded more nervous than last time. Did he stutter? That was.. unlike him. Danny shrugged it off, turning on his heel and going up the small set of stairs into the bathroom. If this had been a couple of months ago, he'd probably take a shower without asking. But now he felt like he needed to ask permission to even use the toilet. It was weird how things could change. 

After taking the shower he realized.. he didn't have a change of clothes. Great, now he had to ask if he could borrow his clothes after he just finished returning his hat. Wrapping a towel around his waist he crept downstairs, standing in the archway of the kitchen and coughing. "Sorry for uh, asking for more favors, but do you have anything clean I could borrow? Even though I just returned your hat.." He sighed a bit, droplets of water hitting the floor by his feet. Jorel looked up and appeared stunned, nodding almost robotically. "Um. Help yourself. We're the same size in everything I'm pretty sure." He went back to scrounging through his fridge, which was understandably empty. Weird. 

He walked into his bedroom and started searching through his drawers, grabbing some basketball shorts and a muscle shirt saying 'rep your hood'. That looked casual enough. Didn't feel like helping himself to any of his 'nicer' articles of clothing. After towel drying his hair he returned to the kitchen for the third and final time, tapping his shoulder. "So, about that cereal?" He asked, a hopeful smile on his lips. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot. Thanks for reminding me." He grabbed a bowl, dumping some honey nut cheerio's in it and pouring some surprisingly not spoiled milk in it. "I made it all by myself. Enjoy." Danny rolled his eyes, snatching the bowl from his hands and going to town on it while he was still standing. 

"You look good in my clothes." Jorel randomly blurted out, and Danny felt milk dribble down his chin. Huh? Why was he complimenting him again?. After swallowing his spoonful he coughed to recover, looking down at his outfit. "Um, thanks." He mustered out, finishing the bowl of cereal and placing it in the sink. Well, now what were they supposed to do?. He looked over at the Italian, raising his eyebrows expectantly. "Uh.... wanna take a nap or something? I'm tired. Can't be much of a host right now." He swayed a bit from side to side, gesturing down the hall. Wait... he wanted to take a nap together? Was he high or something? He had to be high. 

But, like the idiot he was, Danny accepted. Hey, he was genuinely tired. A nap sounded like an amazing idea. He led the way, remembering where his room was only because he'd been there multiple times-- and 10 minutes ago. But now he floundered in the doorway, looking over at Jorel for further instruction. Jorel rolled his eyes and layed down, patting the spot beside him as if it was common sense. Oh. Danny stared at him like a deer caught in headlights for a few moments before laying down, clearly more rigid than usual. 

Jorel didn't point it out, but he did wrap an arm around his shoulders and pull him a little bit closer. "Night." He mumbled, and Danny instinctively rolled onto his side and placed his head against the other man's chest. "Morning." He retorted, which caused Jorel to chuckle before drifting off. Danny joined him a few minutes later, actually glad to be in his arms again. 

Hm.


	15. Chapter 15

Jorel woke up a few hours later naturally, feeling a vaguely familiar weight against his chest and body heat radiating against his side. He looked down while still blinking away the sleepiness fighting his eyelids, noticing a mop of brown hair which could only belong to one person. "Danny.." He unintentionally mumbled out loud, free hand moving up to gently stroke the soft locks of hair, a small smile on his face. He figured today would be a good time to come clean about his feelings, even if he wasn't completely sure on how he was going to do that. He still couldn't muster up enough courage to say the three words that would make this all SO much easier, so he would need to think of an alternative. What a pain in the ass.

After a few minutes of stroking his hair, Danny woke up. A cat like yawn left his lips and turned his head to look up at Jorel, raising an eyebrow. "Are you petting me?" He asked accusingly, already knowing what the answer would be. Jorel dropped his hand and shrugged his shoulders, puffing out his cheeks. "No idea what you're talking about there, buddy." He mumbled, looking up at the ceiling and beginning to whistle. "You're such a loser." He heard from underneath him, Danny then sitting up and resting his head on the other mans shoulder. This was cute. 

"So, I remember what I did and.. sorry." He muttered out, and Danny raised an eyebrow, not recalling what he was talking about. "I kept calling you my boyfriend in front of everyone. Probably embarrassed you. A lot." He glanced down at his lap, only hearing an awkward cough echo beside him. "I mean, it was kinda cute. Obnoxious as fuck, but it didn't embarrass me that much. You just embarrassed yourself." He laughed, nudging Jorel a bit with his elbow. Hold on, hold on. He just said it was cute. That was good. Yeah, he called it obnoxious after.. but the keyword was cute. Maybe now was a good time to try make a move?.

Jorel paused, wondering if just going in for the kill would be his best bet. What if Danny shoved him away and told him to 'knock it off' or something? He wouldn't be able to even make eye contact with him ever again. Baby steps. "I'm not obnoxious. I'm fucking adorable." He grumbled defensively, lowkey hoping it would gain him more compliments from the man beside him. Hey, he was a sucker for compliments from very cute boys. Sue him. Danny rolled his eyes, sighing under his breath. "Yeah, yeah. Just keep telling yourself that." He teased, snickering afterwards.

"Hey, man. You called me cute first." Jorel shrugged, disturbing the head on his shoulder who grunted a bit and sat up straight. "That's because you are cute, Dumbass." He grinned, leaning over to give Danny's cheek a little caress. "You're cuter." This was getting very, very gay-- very fast. Who cared, this gayness was significantly overdue. The other man seemed to freeze up like usual, cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Aw, he was blushing. It seemed like he didn't receive compliments as much as he gave them. "No, shut up dude. Don't mess with me." He sounded.. hurt? Wait, no. This was supposed to be cute and gay!

The Italian groaned, putting both hands on Danny's cheeks and effectively cupping his face. "I can promise that I am definitely not messing with you. I can't... say words, so.. just know that I'm not. Promise." He rose an eyebrow, making eye contact to hopefully convey all his emotions without having to verbally say them. He'd probably mentioned it before, but Danny seriously had a nice set of eyeballs. He could stare into them FOREVER. He watched his mouth open and close like a fish, genuinely speechless for once. Huh, he never knew he could make Danny forget how to form words at all. Usually he had some type of witty remark. Not this time. This was serious business.

After (literally, he counted in his head) 5 minutes he seemed to snap out of it, resorting back to his first language-- which was English. Not telepathy. "Are you saying..." He began to talk, but Jorel effectively shut him up by putting his lips against his. His eyes slipped shut as he continued to hold Danny's face delicately in his hands, as if he was a piece of fine china he was trying to preserve.

Danny began to kiss back almost immediately, arms going around Jorel's waist since he didn't know what else to do with them. He forgot how good of a kisser Jorel was, shit. It was driving every part of his body crazy. He was tingly all over the place and it was as if he was (pun intended) levitating. Figuring he might as well go with the flow he tugged on the hem of his shirt, and Jorel only pulled away for a split second to tug it off and toss it away. Ah, yes. Soft skin that he could caress. Good.

Jorel was in his own version of heaven as well. The last time they shared any kind of lip lock was nearly two months ago, so this felt even more amazing than the first time. In his opinion, the long wait had been worth it. With his shirt now off he pulled Danny into his lap, migrating his mouth from the others lips down to the crook of his neck. He wasn't sure how he felt about hickies but planned on forming a few anyways, biting on sucking on places people would see no matter how much he wanted to cover them up. "People will seeeee.." He heard a breathy whine above him, and he couldn't help but laugh. "Who cares? I'm marking my territory." He mumbled against his skin, licking a long stripe up his neck just to make him squirm.

"Your territory?" He asked skeptically, tilting his head as far as he could to give Jorel more access. The lick caused him to shiver, and he grabbed fistfuls of the bed sheets. "What, do I have to ask formally?" Jorel retorted, hoisting Danny out of his lap and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. The poor musician was now forming four new bruises on his neck, all of which Jorel was very proud of. That was his handy work right there. "Well.. I mean... It would be nice to hear." He mumbled quietly, rubbing the back of his neck that was (luckily) hickey-free. Oh, great.

Jorel took a deep breath, moving in front of him to make eye contact yet again. He kept looking everywhere but into Danny's eyes, though. He couldn't help it, he was nervous. "Uh. Fuck. Wanna be my like.. boy.. thing? Friend. That. I'm so bad at this." He frowned, mentally punching himself in the face. Why couldn't he even ask out someone properly?

Danny grinned, flicking him in the nose. "Duh. I'll be your boyFRIEND, Jorel."


End file.
